The Blood Forest (Tree of Ages #3)(38)

Shutting the door gently behind her, Finn hurried across the room, then sat on the bed beside Kai. She listened to his mutterings for a moment, then looked to Anna, confused.

“He was coherent for a short time,” she explained. “He asked to see you.”

Finn furrowed her brow, then turned her gaze back to Kai.

“I don’t think he’s going to make it,” Anna softly explained, the truth behind her words stabbing her like a spear through her heart.

Finn took Kai’s hand in hers and stared down at him intently. “I refuse to accept that.”

Anna’s heart gave a nervous skip. “I thought you said you do not possess the power to heal,” she said evenly, determined to keep her turbulent emotions out of her voice. Kai couldn’t die. He was her only friend, the only person on this terrible earth who cared about her.

“I don’t,” Finn said softly, still staring down at Kai, “but there has to be something,” she took a shaky breath, “something we can do.”

Anna felt like her heart was going to stop beating at any moment, right along with Kai’s. Damn Finn for being such a destructive creature. She had so much magic in her, but she couldn’t use any of it to help someone she cared about.

Hot rage washed over her. She was a willing recipient of the scalding emotion, much more comforting than sadness and defeat. She stared at Finn and willed her to do something, anything, to help Kai.

The lighting in the room suddenly shifted. Part of Anna’s mind registered that the candles illuminating the room had begun to flicker, as if a breeze was circulating, yet the curtains over the window did not flutter.

“Are you doing that?” she asked, suddenly nervous. The incident with the assassins was the first time she’d seen Finn’s magic, though Kai had explained it to her previously. She didn’t think roots shooting up through the floor of the inn would help Kai any.

Finn turned wide eyes to her, though she maintained her grip on Kai’s limp hand. “I’m not doing anything,” she breathed.

The candles flickered again, and the fire began to sputter. Suddenly the room went dark. No, not just the room, Anna realized. She seemed unable to move, and at some point her eyes had closed. Part of her sensed she was still sitting in her chair, but her body felt like it was being pulled under water. She was sinking into an endless sea of darkness.

Suddenly the feeling of drowning stopped. She took a gasping breath, then stumbled to her feet. She nearly fell to her knees, but managed to regain her balance as her vision slowly returned. She was looking at a solid stone wall.

Stone? The walls of the inn had been made of wood. Where was she?

“Where did you come from?” a woman’s voice asked, echoing from somewhere down the wide, winding corridor in which Anna stood.

“I’m not sure,” Finn’s voice answered, muffled the same as the first woman’s voice. She sounded confused, and maybe a little groggy.

Anna turned and hurried toward the sound of the voices, her boots echoing along the stone floor and off the stone walls encasing her in a narrow hallway. Torches lit the way periodically, but there were long gaps of darkness in between.

She let out a huge sigh of relief as Finn came into view. She was sitting on the floor, and Kai was with her. She still clutched his hand as he lay unconscious, sprawled out just like he’d been in the bed. A woman was standing at their backs.

Finn blinked up at Anna’s approach, but she seemed unable to focus, so Anna turned her attention to the extra woman, suddenly recognizing her long red hair and pinkish, freckled skin.

“Branwen?” she questioned, utterly shocked to see the woman alive.

Branwen didn’t seem at all surprised. “It’s good to see you again,” she said, her gaze on Anna. Her tawny hair hung limp and matted around her gaunt face, and she wore a white, shapeless gown, but she otherwise seemed just like the naive girl Anna and Kai had tricked into funding their travels.

Branwen turned her gaze away from Anna and down to Finn, who finally seemed to be regaining her senses. “I never expected to see you here,” she said happily.

Finn stared over her shoulder at Branwen in awe, but she seemed reluctant to stand and let go of Kai’s hand. “Where are we?” she asked instead.

Anna observed the wide, stony corridor around them, and suddenly it dawned on her. They were in the gray place. She’d traveled these halls when the Ceàrdaman had put her in a trance to find the Archtree. Yet, she’d only walked these corridors in her mind. This time, she felt like she was fully there, not walking through a hazy dream.

“We’re in the in between,” Anna explained. “The gray.”

Branwen pursed her lips in thought. “Yes, I suppose that’s a fitting name for it.” She turned her body to fully face Anna, revealing a large crimson stain on the side of her dress, near her abdomen.

“You’re injured!” Finn exclaimed, seeing the stain at the same time as Anna.

Branwen shrugged. “I’ve been this way for quite some time now.”

Finn finally released Kai’s hand and stood, then went to Branwen. “I don’t understand,” she gasped, holding out her hands as if she could somehow help her.

Anna moved to take Finn’s place beside Kai. His chest still rose and fell with breath, but his hand was icy cold. “This is the place I see in my dreams,” Anna explained, her gaze remaining on Kai. “I don’t know how to explain it, other than to call it the in between. It’s the place between reality and fantasy, the living and the dead. How we arrived here is anyone’s guess.”